Gender Confusion
by Demented Insane Spirit
Summary: Set during ‘The Golden Compass’. If Lyra wasn’t so intent on pretending to be a boy, she would realize that Roger had a crush on her. Maybe after his innocent stumble would she finally understand. One shot.


DIS: I think that, out of all of them, _The Golden Compass _was my favorite. The story didn't turn from Lyra often. In fact, I don't think it ever did. I hated in the third book how there was a lot on her parents and Mary Malone. And I cried when Roger died. He was such a sweetheart. You can guess where this came from, then.

---

_Title: Gender Confusion_

_Rating: K_

_Genre: General/Romance_

_Summary: Set during 'The Golden Compass'. If Lyra wasn't so intent on pretending to be a boy, she would realize that Roger had a crush on her. Maybe after his innocent stumble would she finally understand. Drabble._

_Disclaimer: _His Dark Materials _is owned completely and utterly by Philip Pullman. I wouldn't be writing fanfiction otherwise, now would I?_

_Notes/Warnings: Slight Roger/Lyra; drabble one shot; second attempt at _His Dark Materials_ fic_

---

_Gender Confusion_

Lyra didn't need to know that she was a girl. She knew it. She had all the parts that blatantly said that she was of the female gender and not of the male gender. She had seen boys naked, mostly the gyptians, and had seen herself naked. She knew the first time she saw a naked boy how different she was from the other ones that she ran with outside of Jordan College. And shortly after then, when she asked why, she was assaulted by what she had, at the time, considered morbid details of the human body. Or rather, human bod_ies_.

In any case, despite her knowledge that she was supposed to be dainty, dress nicely, and bat her eyelashes, and giggle and blush when she saw the other gender, she continued to act like a total barbarian. (That was what the Housekeeper, Mrs. Lonsdale, said, anyway.) _After all, _she told herself time after time when she was lectured about "propriety" and such, _what do I need with all those dumb things? Dresses are difficult to run in – difficult to move in, really – and they make me look like a complete fool. It's much better getting rough and dirty with boys rather than act like a complete twit. If that's how girls are supposed to be, well, I don't want to have it!_

Roger, her best friend, and the kitchen boy at Jordan College, had seen her in a dress once and howled his head off. When she next saw him, she promptly hit him. That was a genuine example of how idiotic she looked in a dress. She seemed to think so, but the other scholars and the Housekeeper seemed to think that it was her own fault he had laughed.

Presently, Lyra was running around on the roofs of Jordan College much like a monkey with Roger bouncing around beside her. This was one of her favorite activities and clearly one of his, too. At last, they settled down on the top and laid back, their daemons lying next to them.

"Lyra, don't you do anything that girls do?" He asked suddenly. She scowled and turned on her stomach, flipping her flaxen hair over her shoulder irritably. "Not that I care," he hastily explained, not wanting to anger her, "but it's just that you're going to have to learn one day." She was tempted to tell him that she _did_ do something a girl did: she had to sit down to use the privy when she peed and didn't stand up doing it.

"I'll learn it when I want to," she told him haughtily.

"Okay, well, what about now?"

"What about now _what?_"

"Why don't you learn something girls do that guys don't? I can help..." She frowned at him, as though he had presented to her some complicated puzzle. With a sigh, she looked away, her mouth turning down unhappily, but nodded.

"Sure, Roger. I'd rather learn from you, anyway." His daemon was twitching nervously. She ignored it, but wondered why Roger could possibly be nervous. He leaned forward suddenly and she was shocked when his lips touched hers, lingering for a moment before he drew away, his face twisted into a defiant expression despite his pink cheeks. She stared at him.

"_Guys_," he stated, raising his chin, his face bright red, "don't kiss other guys. _Girls_ kiss guys." Lyra continued to stare at him and then huffed, looking away, blushing a bit herself. "And girls blush," he added, smirking.

"You're blushing, too!" She shouted. He glared up down at her, turning redder if possible.

"Well...Well, I'm allowed to!" He shouted back, getting to his feet just as she did. The two of them glowered and then lunged at each other, tussling on the roof for awhile, their daemons snarling and hissing at each other before they broke away, panting and lying on their backs, staring at the sky as they had been a few moments ago.

"I'm hungry," Lyra announced. Roger sighed.

_She can be so dense sometimes. _"Yeah, me too," he said instead of what he was thinking. The two of them jumped to their feet and clambered around the roofs of the buildings until arriving at the kitchen door. _Oh, well, _Roger thought as the Porter and pastry chef greeted them. _At least I got to kiss her. _He grinned at this and went about more enthusiastically, which only the two kitchen servants found suspicious. As Lyra always was when it came to males, she was oblivious.

_Finis_

---

DIS: I always thought that Roger had a bit of a crush on Lyra. Whether she might have felt the same is lost on me. I was just in the mood for something cute and short. I am the drabble and one-shot addict, after all. Please leave a review telling me how I did. Ciao!


End file.
